Happy Veterans Day! Many schools have off (lucky guys!) but us worker bees continue buzzing on. Still, I am making time to enjoy a most beautiful walk in the autumn sun today and contemplate the many sacrifices our veterans and their families have given.

I want to share autumn at my home with you today. It's a very golden day, which I'm enjoying to the utmost since the big arctic storm is on it's way and snowflakes are expected tomorrow.

vineyards in my neighborhood, the "Hills of Dundee"

I never tire of the views as I drive up our street to do errands

a winery up the street from us

Or the walk down our long country drive to get the mail, gazing on our neighboring vineyard.

We see this view each time we drive home through our little town.

Or even just three steps off my back porch!

The walk from our porch to the back property.

Even our koi are cloaked in autumn hues

we have 8 large koi and 7 babies born this spring.

Our blueberry bushes gave us close to 30 gallons of berries this summer, and now they brighten our yard with deep orange and crimson; they deserve a good winter's rest.

two families of songbirds nested in this condo amid the blueberrybushes this summer

I think I'll grab a steaming cup of spiced cider and meander a little longer along trails of crispy leaves and piney smells, for winter will all-to-soon cover this colored beauty with winter white.

These last couple days have been filled with birthday fun. It started the day before my birthday. Painting was interrupted by a heavenly smell coming out of the kitchen. I stepped out of my studio just in time to catch this!

And, this!

(Not to worry...beaters were soaked in bleachy water)

That afternoon, lemon icing was dripping down Glen's delicious masterpiece...

And then, final touch; a topping of freshly picked raspberries from the berry patch....

We couldn't wait. We had our own high tea with lemon-raspberry cake and a steaming cup of earl grey tea. You can get his easy-to-make recipe for Glen's Lemon-Raspberry Cake here.

Glen's lemon-raspberry cake with fresh raspberry jam filling

I decided to turn out the lights in the paint studio early and get some fresh air after such a decadent snack. I noticed even our trees were all lemon and raspberry!

One of our many sunset maples

One of our silver maples

The stately red maple; a Christmas present from my in-laws

A beautiful autumn day greeted us again the next day, my birthday, so we had a beautiful country drive through golden vineyards and a visit to some fun shops. Cotton lives for drives such as these (and also licking cake beaters, I found out.)

Time to greet the paparazzi

You may have seen her recently on some social media sites. "Her Coolness" gets a lot of pictures taken in her Doggles.

Getting older doesn't bother me a bit, especially with celebrations such as this!